The Team

 

 

Kirstin

Owner of Smitten, Kirstin grew up in Maple Heights, Ohio in a house of women (her mom, sister, herself, Fluffy, their one-eyed Siamese cat, and Molly their pup)!  She went to John Carroll University where she graduated with an accounting degree and more importantly met her husband, Gregor. 

After graduating, she worked as an Auditor for Ernst & Young. After a few years she escaped corporate life and headed to Costa Rica & Mexico to learn Spanish & forget about the horrors of auditing. 

When she returned, she convinced one of her best friends to move to Chicago with her and took a job in accounting. She left that role in 2004 when she got engaged and moved to Miami to plan her wedding. She had helped numerous friends with the details of their big day, but planning her own solidified her love for the subject and propelled her to start Smitten Boutique.

She opened SB in 2008 and has learned so much of what it takes to run a small business. "My most enjoyable moments have always come from the interactions with newly engaged couples and their families + the devoted customers shopping our retail storefront. Helping people make the special occasions in their lives extraordinary is truly a rewarding and awe-inspiring calling". - Kirstin 

Erin

As Creative Director of Custom Stationery, Erin loves being able to help couples tell their love stories in ink and foil. Erin's long-time love of print began with DIY'zines made of cut-up American Girl catalogs and YM magazines, and took her to Northwestern University, where she studied magazine journalism. 

Erin Brings fifteen years of print media design experience, most recently as Director of Production and Creative Services for the Modern Luxury family of luxury lifestyle publications. 

After marrying her husband, Alex, in 2016, Erin realized that her passions for pretty paper goods, lush letterpress, and bespoke branding weren't going to be satisfied by just doing her own wedding invitations. Serendipity led her to Smitten Boutique, where she has been helping couples design their dream stationery since 2017. Current obsession include copper foil, vellum gatefolds, and architectural details blind embossed into triple-ply cotton paper (but she'll always have a love of clean, classic design with beautiful hand calligraphy!). 

Nicole

Brand Manager at Smitten, comes from a communications background. After graduating from LIM College in NYC, Nicole started her career in Public Relations. She has worked for brands like Donna Karan Intl., The Estee Lauder Companies, and The Nike Communications Public Relations Agency. While at Nike she represented LACOSTE, Hugo Boss, The Art of Shaving, Christina Aguilera, Hourglass, and Clarins brands. 

Nicole’s passion to learn more about entrepreneurship lead her to Smitten Boutique, where she is able to continue to live out her cosmopolitan career!

Nicole lives in the Fulton Market district with her husband and Shetland Sheepdog Sheffield! She enjoys Pilates, podcasts, nature things, museums, a minimalist lifestyle, and is a Zara addict!

Doug

Retail Manager, Doug has a long history in retail as well as marketing & advertising.  He recently made the big move from the Philadelphia area to Chicago with his girlfriend and is loving life in this incredibly beautiful and vibrant city!

When he’s not working at Smitten you can probably find him walking his dogs, Oscar and Daisy around the West Loop!  He has a knack for raising and propagating various plants and has recently found a love for his planted aquarium that has various fish, snails and even shrimp. 

 

Nada

Retail Sales Associate, is a midwest native, Nada and her husband Tom are happy to be back in the city after 29 years in the suburbs of Oak Park and Naperville. Both are self proclaimed foodies, world travelers, music mavens, concerts goers and love cultural events. They enjoy connecting with fellow Chicagoans and are members of the Chicago Art Institute and SoHo House of Chicago.

Nada brings a wealth of knowledge to Smitten’s retail space, after graduating from Indiana University, she was an Assistant Buyer with Marshall Field's then promoted to the corporate contemporary Department Manager. She left this role to raise her two beautiful, now adult, children all-the-while finding time to continue her retail career as the Store  Manager at Ann Taylor, Gift Registry Specialist at Sur La Table, and now the Gift Selling Specialist at Smitten Boutique!

“I love chatting with our customers! Come visit me and I will help you find the best restaurants, the most fab facialist, hidden coffee shops, home décor ideas, the best fashionista finds, neighborhood must-sees, and the perfect gift!”. - Nada

Conley

Retail Sales Associate, moved from the small town of Bartlett, Tennessee right after high school and is now living out her dream of living in the big city! She is in her junior year at UIC pursuing a Marketing major, as well as concentrations in communications and product management. Conley is apart of Phi Sigma Sigma sorority where she serves as part of the executive board as the Sisterhood Development Chair.

Her dream is to be the CEO of Kate Spade, or to rule the business world of fashion someday, and she is well on her way - she has a great aesthetic sensibility, a joyful demeanor and hustle like you have never seen.

You can find Conley having study sessions in the Gold Coast Starbucks, hanging out with sorority sisters, enjoying all of the endless adventures and places Chicago has to offer, and celebrating every nearest holiday to the max because she is the ultimate Christmas enthusiast and deems herself as “low key bougie". Swing by Smitten and talk some tea with Miss Conley!

 

You are using a really old version of
Internet Explorer, click here to upgrade your browser.
x